around the world. >> not just a moment for us to get people to say new words and learn new responses, so much it's a chance to teach about what we're worshiping. >> reporter: all of this means, cat catholics who go to church a few times of year, might find themselves scratching their heads this christmas season. >> thank you. i'm wolf blitzer in the "the situation room." the news continues next on cnn. good evening. important breaks news in the penn state child sex abuse scandal. former penn state coach joe paterno is hiring a high-pow pro file criminal defense attorney. joe paterno said quote -- he's absolutely distraught over what happened to the children and their families. he also wants very much to speak publicly and answers questions. he cop ko operated fully with the grand jury and he will continue to cooperate with that investigation as it moves forward. it comes a short time after the

university president announced another member of the football team's coaching staff is out. assistant coach mike mckwaery put on administrative leave. he reported seeing the defensive coordinator at the team coach jerry sandusky but mckwaery reported it not to the police but to head coach joe paterno. there's outrage over what prosecutors believe was a cover-up at the school. former top two university officials face criminal charges. tonight, penn state's interim president says there may be more revelations and more victims. >> it's certainly appears from what we know, we do not everything that has happened, obviously, we have seen the presentment to the grand jury,

clearly this is an ongoing investigation. it appears that some individuals were afraid to make known what they have seen. >> all this the same day the mother of an alleged victim came forward to tell her story. with her voice disguised, she told good morning america, when. >> i asked who who he was looking up. he wanted to see if jerry was on there. and i said, why would you look him up? and he said, i don't know. he's a weirdo. and i proceeded to ask him, if there was something that he needed to tell me. at that point, he didn't indicate anything. i called the school and expressed my concerns. i told them to my son to the guidance office and talk to him.

they called me that it was very important that i get there immediately. at that point, i kind of knew what it was about. >> this evening, penn state students will hold a vigil for for the victims. sarah, twient start on campus there, the statement from coach paterno's son, he would like to speak out but he can't because of the legal process and he's hiring a high-powered defense attorney. what does that tell you? >> we really don't know. attorney general has made it very clear that joe paterno is not a target of this investigation, he'll probably be a witness and he cooperated fully, so, you know that move it could go either way, i think that a lot of people in a situation where it has been this tense and this many -- much more public outrage to get an

attorney just to consult. he's also probably going to be one of the key prosecution's witnesses against athletic director tim curley and gary schultz. some concern that you want to get some counsel and some help in your testimony. >> trent, come innen that point, is it a safety valve? standard operating procedure? or as the university goes back to square one and retrace who knew what went when, is this a sign that perhaps even the attorney general at the moment that the coach is not a target, things could change? >> john, i think frankly, you know, what joe paterno is doing is well within his rights and clearly within his best interest. he's not hiring any lawyer, he's hiring the lawyer who george bush sr. hired to represent him in the iran contra affair. he didn't hire any lawyer

inspect guy, this lawyer is going to be charged with task of the responsibility trying to clear coach paterno of any charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. they're going to go to square one. i'm not so sure that joe paterno is out of the woods. if he was given graphic information from this graduate assistant, that there was sex going on in the shower, then coach paterno was obligated to take that information and give it in the same graphic detail that was give on the him. if he doesn't do that, under pennsylvania child protection services law, he's violated law the law. if there are any inconsistencies that joe paterno has violated the law. so, look, it goes to the issue of what did he know? when dehe know it? i'm not sure if there was

inconsistencies between what mcqueary and what joe paterno told the grand jury and what joe paterno told the at the let ing director. if he down played it, it looked like it was horse play, the reality that explain why the athletic director didn't also didn't take this to authority. frankly he didn't get the information that he should have gotten. >> and roxanne, you're a former penn state cheerleader, your involvement with espn, you have been calling for the coach to step aside. when you hear it, joe paterno, 46 years head coach, iconic figure on your campus hiring a hi high-profile criminal defense attorney, what goes through your mind? >> i don't think he's out of the woods yet. i don't think this is just offensive move by him. i don't think we have the whole story. i don't think he's out of the

woods yet. i'm not the legal expert here. but i agree 1,000% what he just said. i think there's more to come. and he needed a top-notched lawyer because these are serious, serious allegations. >> sara, coach mcqueary placed on indefinite leave. one of the witness to one of those horrible incidents back in 20 # 02, is this being done to safeguard him, could he too be facing legal issues that could reflect on the university? >> well, you know the only thing that we know from today is that governor tom corbett in a press conference right before the new university president's press conference, said there were some issues regarding whistleblowers and some question of who was going to be a witness in this case when they were deciding what to do with mcqueary's stay does as an employee of penn

state. so, you know, i think that this mcqueary story is evolving. yes, there were threats made against him. the reason last night they said that he wasn't going to be on the sidelines or in the box coaching at saturday's game. now we're finding out today, late today, that he's on paid administrative leave and that's indefinite. >> trent, if you believe the grand jury report and other things that have been reported he's an eyewitness to a child sexual assault, he called coach paterno, not the police, what is his legal liability? >> you know, look, john, he has fundamentally according to law, he's not violated the law, he had an obligation to report this to his authorities. but it's hard to imagine, most red-blooded american men, it's hard to imagine that you could watch a child being sexually assaulted and not do anything. whether he's violated the letter of law there's an argument that he may be did not.

but he clearly violated the spirit of the law. there was something not right here. i'm not certain that we have seen the last of mcqueary being potentially indicted in this case. >> under the cloud of all of this, lot of questions about the future of the program the future of the coaching staff, there's a game tomorrow, a prominent sports columnist of the boston globe, wrote this -- it's still not too late to fire the coaching staff, cancel the game and cancel the season. penn state has to a deliver and restore some of its soul. you agree with that? >> i have a lot of respect for dn. i agree with him. those thoughts ran across my mind, too. i don't want to any way cheat the players who, you know, worked really hard this season, i think that really takes a

backseat, i just don't how we can go into a game with hundreds of thousands people cheering, wearing all blue, very se celebratory with this hanging over. very serious and very sad allegations hanging over the university. i don't like how it looks at all. >> sara, you're standing on the campus the evening before this big game, normally a very festive time on campus, what is it like tonight? >> you know, it's a little bit quiet here tonight. especially for a friday night before a football game. this was supposed to be a huge football game. the last home game of the season and the first home game against nebraska since nebraska joined the big ten. this is supposed -- tomorrow is supposed to be huge. now it's huge in a different way, not so fun way. we did hear from president rodney erickson, there were some factions of students wearing all blue in support of the victims.

what we also need to look for whether or not there are going to be protesters. what the security is going to be like. are people going to show up for this? there's a high focus on security because of all of those concerns. i think that tomorrow, you know, could be unlike any other football saturday ever in happy valley. >> sara, trent and roxanne, thank you for your help. thanks to you all. president obama is due in san diego any time now, first stop on a nine-day trip. up next, we'll ask cnn's fareed zakaria what he wants and what he's liking to get. ♪

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off of my buddy herman cain. >> okay. >> and it's not every day that you hear a big state governor and candidate for president says this -- >> you know, i said something at the orlando debate that was arrogant. >> or this -- >> i want the people who disagreed with me on that day to know that i'm sorry. >> here's why perry is so sorry, a new poll out tonight stacks the gop field this way -- former massachusetts governor mitt romney at 23%. herman cain at 17%. ron paul at 10% and rick perry in single digit. safe to say, newt gingrich senses an opening. >> i believe that everybody who has assumed that one particular former governor of a neighboring

state, was automatically going to dominate new hampshire. is in for a great shock. because i think we can have an honest debate about what we need in washington and what we need in america and i have a hunch that we're going to do very well appealing to the people. >> is the gop really ready to go back to future with speaker newt gingrich? with us a little bit later susan molinari. i want to show our viewers governor perry walking out on stage last night on david letterman. we have his video -- no, we don't have that video i'm told. he makes this appearance last night. humor is a great gift in politics. self-deprecating humor. >> i got to say i have heard a

lot of reporters saying today that he probably had better press yesterday than candidates have had one in single day than in the last six months. looking at the ratings of to show, 2 1/2 more times people saw him do the mea culpa tour than his debate flubs. >> james, humor helps. another thing that helps is money, the big question, perry has slipped into single digits. lot of his national fund-raising might dry up, he wants to move the poll numbers up, he's spending almost $1 million on an add. first candidate to go national with commercials. here's little snippet of that ad. >> i'm curious what did your wife say to you last night. >> last night? my wife said i loved you. >> that's not the commercial.

to drop $1 million on fox news right now, tells you what? >> you know, it tells me that he got money, he raised a lot of money and he's in the doing very well and he's not going to do very well for the simple fact that he's completely ill-suited to do. he can't run for president. he doesn't have the skill, he doesn't have the ability to be on a national stage, that's clear to everybody and it's abundantly clear to the primary voters. he can't buy his way out of this. i respect his campaign for trying this. it's evident that he's in over his head by 1,000 miles. >> congresswoman molinari, you're a romney supporter, let's start with rick perry, james said that he's in over a mile. we have watched as the republican electorate who will be the guy that let romney -- let them fight it out, do you think perry is done, when you

look, he has money, but he has a good infrastructure and he's a big state governor, he has herman cain and newt gingrich ahead of him? >> right now he's done, because we have seen the flavor of the day change so much, next week is going to decide an awful lot for the voters. how will he do in this debate on sunday on foreign affairs? but i also think he has to get his numbers back up. you have been talking about the new polls that show him going down. does herman cain survive another week? can newt sustain where he is right now? i think this next week is going to show. >> let's show the poll numbers again -- congresswoman, you

served with speaker gingrich in the house of representatives. he left under not the best of circumstances. but he has performed very well in these debates, is the republican party ready to go back to the future or is this a holding place for voters who are still looking? >> you know, newt is the person that i think who can be absolutely very smart and has done very well and acquitted himself very well in the debates. i think at a time, if he is still at this level, first of all he doesn't have the money the rest of the candidates, we know that he doesn't have the organization f he becomes a serious contender just like with herman cain or rick perry, once you get higher up there the background, the history all comes out again. how long can you sustain that background at this level.

>> herman cain at 17%. this poll was completely conducted after sharon bialak came forward. there are the numbers. look at these numbers from a new cbs news poll tonight. women who support cain for the republican nomination. in october it was 28%. now it's 15%. that tells you, even though in the national polls that he's doing okay, he's still got a problem. >> of course, he has a problem. as you recall, after we went through some of this, we had a problem after that, too, we were able to come back, i'm doubtful that cain can come back. the amazing thing about these polls, romney's numbers are 23 plus or minus one. the most consistent thing that you see in polling, it's

literally every time, never a surprise about to romney, at what point does he bust above 25% in his polls. he can't do. i'm fascinated to hear what susan think about it. it has gone on for a long time now. >> at what point does he start give them money bachmann, santorum in the race? if you're looking for this person for a long time, perry is spending nationally on fox hoping that he can boost his numbers. herman cain is still it for the moment. newt gingrich is the guy on the guy who will be the consecuti k second -- conservative alternative to romney. >> start averaging in the polling, mitt romney hasn't gotten 25%.00%.

you see rick perry on an upswing along with newt, people are still trying to find someone besides mitt romney. >> volatility is the catch word in republican politics. thanks for coming in on a friday night. big debate tomorrow night. cnn debate next week. this race is playing out, it's interesting. president obama is on his way first to hawaii and then to asian. we'll ask fareed zakaria about the china challenge, next. [ male announcer ] our nation's veterans are real-life heroes.

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asia dominants president obama's agenda the next nine days. he also pays a visit to australia. it's the dominant focus, tensions on both economic and security issues. fareed zakaria here, fareed, when president obama is sitting from president hu jintao, what is the most important thing that the united states president wants to walk out of that meeting with? >> think more than anything else, president obama is trying to establish the kind of strategic dialogue with china where you can bring up things like the currency issue, you know the fact that the chinese use their currency to artificially keep their prices low. that doesn't get the chinese to storm out of the room. but gets them to do something

about it. remember, china is now the second largest economy in the world. they're big boys. you can't brannish a stick and expect that they're going to jump. it's using pressure effectively with china, which means developing a relationship and making them that the united states is in there with them as a partner but we want to do things that are in our interest as well. >> and the question is, who has the upper hand in the interdependency if you will? chi china owns a lot of our debt. then again, china, its economy is struggling a little bit. inflation is up. it needs europe and the united states to get back on their feet. who's on first? bad pun. >> for the united states and china, i think of it a mutually assured destruction situation, china can hurt us badly by

dumping a lot of u.s. bonds. but what would that do? that means we would stop buying chinese goods. that would mean unemployment would rise in china. in the short run, however, you have to say, you know, it's a pretty simple situation as it with any scenario with a debtor and the creditor, the creditor has more power. the guy with kash is generally speaking with the guy that needs debt. the chinese are sitting a little bit more comfortable these day and when you travel the country and you talked to people about what drives their economic anxiety, fairly or unfairly, china comes up a lot? when you ask people in manufacturing community and unemployed people, they view china as threat not as a friend. how much does the politics of china that he's the president of the united states but he's also

a candidate for re-election? mitt romney at the moment, has dned that bashing china is good politics? >> china is almost on every dimension is cheekt. we got to recognize that. they're making sure their products are artificially low priced. it's killing jobs in america. >> he's pretty close to right if not completely right on the facts, but is that good politics at the moment? >> well, it's probably good politics. but what's striking about that, i was struck by those quotes. this is a break with 40 years of republican foreign policy from henry kissinger and richard nixon the republican line on china has been, it has been towards integration, china is a strategic partner, making sure that we have a win-win and no trade brashing, none of that, romney is doing something very interesting here.

he's decided that the public mood, even in the republican party, is so hostile to china that they don't care about free trade anymore and he may well be right. i'm sure you have seen the same polls, support for free trade is down substantially in both parties. it's now also weakened the republican party. you have supporting kind of a free trade and let's try to have a cooperation relationship with china, you go below that and there's no support for it. and what romney is doing, he's the first guy to scratch that surface. >> i remember bill clinton back in 1992 saying that he wouldn't do anything business with the butchers in china. >> what they said on the campaign trail is very different by the time they get to the white house. fareed zakaria, his special on

education airs tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. how thankful you ought to be this veterans day, robin meade is here to help, too. [ tires screech ] [ crying ] [ applause ] [ laughs ] [ tires screech ] [ male announcer ] your life will have to flash by even faster. autodrive brakes on the cadillac srx activate after rain is detected to help improve braking performance. we don't just make luxury cars. we make cadillacs.

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welcome back, here's the latest news. white house officials sent congressional committees about some of the e-mails of the failed solyndra e-mails.

president obama is offering u.s. assistance in the investigation of today's helicopter crash that killed mexican interior minister. several important developments in europe's debt crisis. greek swore in a new prime minister. the italian prime minister sill vie yo berlusconi expected to resign tomorrow. the news overseas caused stock markets here to surge. ended the week higher than they opened on monday. today's number when we come back, it has nothing to do with those bells on wall street and everything to do on why we should be thankful this weekend. that's next. nd other hybrids? the look. yeah, it doesn't look like a box. we wanted a hybrid and we wanted... didn't want it to look like a hybrid.

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. tonight's number is something that we should all be thankful for. 21.8 million -- 21.8 million veterans, the number of military veterans here in the united states. 21.8 million reasons to say thank you on this veterans day. they have served in the wars of iraq and afghanistan. 837,000 of those served back in the first gulf war more than 20

years ago. part of our tribute to veterans from the cnn family is a special hln program salute to the troops, stories of courage, among the heroes who spent some time with my colleague robin meade, dan nevitt, he's now part of the wounded war project. >> pins holding it together. they say, we're going to go skiing next month and they want you to come. i lost a leg. have you lost your eyes? now it's my greatest joy to walk into a medical center to walk with pits in and walk in, hey, i'm dan, nice to meet you. as soon as i see that look, they give me that look, hey, you have no idea of what i'm going through. that's when i tell them, six

years ago i was there. i have two prosthetics. i just climbed mount kilimanjiro. >> robin meade is here with us. robin, you get chills watching this story there. veterans are always close to your heart, for this project, you spent a lot of time with veterans, what stands out. >> so many stories that folks are going to see tonight. you have to have your kleenex ready because when you listen to people like him, it's so moving how much fight they have, right? they want to serve the country and protect us all. even when they get injured they're so resilient and they're ready to go. you know, we were able to be there as a battle ship was pulling out of jacksonville, florida, going for deployment. i was so struck by this little

kid who said, i told my daddy that he doesn't have to bring me any gifts when he comes back he's the gift. like his mother coached on how every day dad is gone, is a day closer to daddy comes home. >> captain scott smiley, i happened to meet him three years ago, he was blinded and wounded he helped save his men back in iraq. his wonderful wife standing by him. he came to washington for a washington wizards game. let's listen here to a little bit of his story >> i went through the dark and dreary times. depression. it was dark. >> i was there when he came into the hospital. as we were going into his room, saying hi, scotty, he was all

bandaged up. he said, hi, tiff, he knows who i am. it definitely wasn't the homecoming that i ever wanted. that was probably the hardest part for me. i always envisioned them coming home, a big celebration, it's a happy time, this wasn't a happy time. this was a struggle. >> a struggle, but help our viewers understand the remarkable lesson of this amazing couple. >> so here's a man, that i would imagine could probably retire on full benefits after being blinded. he is now the first guy in the military in the army to be active duty but fully blind, no, he did not retire, he's still serving our country, at the time that we talked to him, john, he was helping with the rehab hospital at west point facility, so he was helping people like

him or peopwho wanted to become better berperson. >> he's somebody, this disability maybe it's a speed bump not the roadblock that you would think, just the courage is awe-inspiring. i want to close, you had a little bit of fun. tell us about your tour of a naval destroyer. >> lot of people are not able -- most people can't say they have been inside a naval destroyer, you're going to be able to say you're able to see inside, so we were -- the captain taking us through. what makes this all work together are the people onboard there. i was so surprised to learn, who pilot this ships? this is the hardest job. that's the guy straight out of

high school, he has the wheel, we're the ones who do all of the navigation equipment, which kind of struck me. it's an amazing tour. but, i think think the stress of this special is that, you know the military itself is a family and that our family members back home are the backbone for so many of those military members. >> amen to that. >> yeah. >> robin, thanks for being with us. hln friday, saturday and sunday, watch it at least once as we all say thank you to our veterans on this veterans days. one of the many veterans that i keep in touch with, back in 1990, colonel bill snelling. he teaches. he's retired. teaches at syracuse university. part of a remarkable collaboration of troops from a nearby base. some of those troops are deployed in one of the

combat-ladened portions of afghanistan. combat team spartan is deployed down here. 90,000 people. why is this area so dicey? in part, it's the birthplace of the taliban, right down here where the spartans are deployed, darker the red, the stronger the taliban. spartans are deployed some of the most mountainous terrain. of afghanistan. the lessons have proven invaluable as his troops now try to turn the page in these taliban strangle holds. >> a lot of fighting there over the last 12 months. but that town has been reborn, if you were to go there, you would see a giant flag, an

afghan flag flying from the location where mullah omar started the taliban movement. throughout the district, there are 14 schools where last year there were only 2. and 200 of a 1,000 students are girl students, that was not here last year. so there has been a tremendous amount of progress, even in areas -- >> colonel said that the relationship also helps with morale during these very long, dangerous deployment. >> reporter: it's tremendous, john, we have done a lot of fighting this summer in a pla--e was a task operation center at that location, you have seen photos of our soldiers down there with both basketball and the football, that they received from syracuse university, to have that has been tremendous, it is a connection that our soldiers would not have in most

cases with the vision of one ncaa division i programs such as syracuse. >> we traveled to campus to get a closer look. football and basketball players get a first hand sense of why we should be grateful this veterans day. >> i just don't believe -- without them we don't have a country here. without these men and women, we have no country, no sense to have the things that we have. we had an opportunity to do something with the soldiers, it was the best thing that i think with have ever done having them down here. we're going to go up there.

>> this is time. this is the place and we are team. we think that also resonates with the syracuse basketball team. you're going to bring a championship back to syracuse this year. that the spartan bri soldiers that are deployed in afghanistan are going to be rooting you on the whole way. >> we're proud of you. we're going to try to do some work here this year and make you proud of us. >> this gun has been around since world war ii. >> they got to go through a whole day with us. it was like to get their minds off what they go through every day, come down and play basketball and still be competitive and see what we go through on a daily basis. >> we also wanted to experience -- not everything they go through, but experience what they go through as well. >> they work so hard for the country. we just want to give back. with the things we do, our partnership between syracuse university and fort drum is

very -- we're fortunate enough to do that. >> it was only paintball, and it hurt really bad. imagine if it was real bullets. i got a lot of respect for those guys. >> i'm just proud to be able to do this. we're doing a small part, a little tiny part. i'm proud to have our team involved in this. i'm proud to be involved in this. i hope that by example we get some more people involved in doing things with the people that are doing so much for our country. >> up next, is stepping in it, as rick perry puts it, ever a good thing for a campaign? tonight's truth tests the notion that the bigger the blunder, the higher the price. we believe doing the right thing never goes unnoticed. liberty mutual insurance. responsibility. what's your policy?

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here's an indisputable duty. one gaffe defined the week in politics. >> i would do away with the education, the, uh, commerce. let's see. i can't -- the third one, i can't. sorry. oops. >> in all, it was a 51 second struggle in which rick perry never did get to number three. to many, three words summed up perry's failed search for three agencies. rest in peace. without a doubt, governor perry

has a lot, no, a ton to prove when he takes the debate stage tomorrow night at south carolina and again next week here in washington. but here's tonight's truth. big gaffes aren't always campaign ending. while perry's is more damaging than most because it re-enforced existing doubts, other factors in the republican race suggest it might be too soon to write him off. campaign history is full of gaffes that seemed huge at the moment but faded with time. you would think, for example, right, that a guy running for president of the united states would know just how many states he hoped to lead. >> it is just wonderful to be back in oregon. over the last 15 months, we've traveled to every corner of the united states. i've now been in 57 states. i think one left to go. >> 57 states. that guy also forgot his senate committee assignments from time to time. well, he had a few other

doozies. last we checked, he's still president. not too long ago, there was another texas governor who had, shall we say, a gift for stepping in it. >> can you name the prth of chechnya? >> no, can you? >> can you name the president of taiwan? >> yeah, lee. >> can you name the general -- >> wait, is this 50 questions? >> no, it's four questions, four lead e and four hot spots. >> the new pakistani general has just been elected. he's not elected. he took over office. he appears he's going to bring stability to the country. >> and you can name him. >> i can name the general. >> and it's? >> general. >> that guy, too, despite a lot of mocking was not to be misunderestimated. in fact, he had just the right strategy to win the presidency not once but twice. but rick perry's gaffe came in a nationally televised debate. as did this in rewriting cold

war history. >> i don't believe that the poles consider themselves dominated by the soviet union. >> oops. president ford would go on to lose a close contest to jimmy carter. some smart people do think that debate gaffe was a factor. now the country's post-war funk and nixon pardon also played a role. when it comes to big presidential debate gaffes, don't forget ronald reagan's meander down the pacific coast highway. >> i couldn't completely neglect the beauty around me. the pacific on one side of the highway. the mountains of the coast range rising on the other side. i found myself wondering what it would be like for someone -- wondering if someone 100 years from now would be driving down that highway and if they would see the same thing. with that thought, i realized what a job i had with that letter. >> now, critics jumped all over that. proof, they said, that his mind

just wasn't so sharp anymore. a couple of weeks later, the voters deliver the their verdict. reagan won re-election in a 49-state landslide. now, walter mondale was a weak opponent, so reagan's gaffes didn't matter as much. governor perry has to hope now for a similardynamic. we know it's true that a decent slice of the republican electorate wants mitt romney. that was perry's place with he entered the race and shot up to near 30% in the national polls. herman cain and newt gingrich are now in his way as perry tries to climb back up. it's a steep hill, and a good conservative is supposed to be able to name three agencies to cut in his or her sleep, let alone in a debate after hours and hours of practice time. but is it a fatal gaffe? truth is, the voters decide that, not the punpundits. history shows the voters are often quite forgiving. governor perry has enough money to make